Chapter 444: Beast King's Tide Approaches

Jiang Fan was surprised. His mind raced.

"The True Scripture of Iron Blood came from this very place. Could there be some hidden connection between this scale and 'The True Scripture of Iron Blood'?" He realized this scale was far more extraordinary than it seemed.

"What is this? Let this elder take a look!" Fan Xingkong's aged eyes fixed intently on the scale.

Jiang Fan tightened his grip on the scale, staring silently at him.

"This elder is just taking a look. Do you think I'd snatch something from a junior like you?" Fan Xingkong scoffed heavily, his face showing no room for argument.

"Just a look?" If it wasn't valuable, it would be fine. But if it was, once it was in Fan Xingkong's hands, why would he ever return it to Jiang Fan?

Jiang Fan's eyes flickered, and he wore a thoughtful expression. Fan Xingkong grew impatient, his eyes narrowing. "Anything dug up in our Giant Sect's sacred land," he declared, "even a mere stone, if not examined by me, you won't be allowed to take away!"

As expected, the Giant Sect had no integrity to speak of. Despite the token explicitly stating that anything Jiang Fan excavated within a day would belong to him, they were now openly threatening him. They showed no intention of letting an outsider take valuable treasures. After speaking, a hint of ruthlessness appeared in Fan Xingkong's eyes.

Just then, Jiang Fan smiled faintly and casually tossed the scale over. "It's just a scale. If your sect is so reluctant to part with it, then take it. I couldn't be bothered with it anyway."

Fan Xingkong snatched the scale, his expression softening slightly. He immediately scrutinized it. Apart from its hard texture and slight toxicity, there was truly nothing special about it. It bore no inscribed cultivation methods, nor did it conceal any codes or runes. It was just an ordinary scale.

He couldn't help but wonder, "If it's such an ordinary item, why was it preserved in a black box? And why was it buried so deeply? Even 'The True Scripture of Iron Blood' wasn't buried this deep."

Unwilling to give up, he tried various secret methods. He tried burning it with fire, soaking it in water, saturating it with spiritual liquid, and even had a disciple specializing in both magic and body cultivation infuse it with spiritual energy. All to no avail. The scale remained unchanged.

"It truly is an ordinary scale!" Fan Xingkong confirmed, completely convinced. He let out a long sigh.

Jiang Fan sneered, "Since it's an ordinary scale, your esteemed sect can keep it then. I will also advise disciples from other sects not to trust the Giant Sect's promises. Even the Sect Master's promise should be treated as mere hot air. Otherwise, you'll end up toiling for nothing, just like me." With that, he flicked his sleeve and leaped out of the deep pit.

Fan Xingkong's face alternated between green and red. If the item had been valuable, sacrificing the sect's reputation to keep it might have been worthwhile. But ruining the Giant Sect Master's credibility for a useless, broken scale would be a tremendous loss.

He leaped up, chasing after Jiang Fan, and scoffed, "What nonsense are you spouting? This elder was merely helping you discern its value. When did I say I wanted to keep it for myself? Take it back!" With a flick of his finger, he sent the scale flying back.

Jiang Fan pondered for a moment before reluctantly catching it, feigning unwillingness. In reality, he was secretly delighted. When dealing with such old monsters, one had to employ psychological tactics. The more Jiang Fan appeared to care, the more the other party would suspect the scale held hidden secrets and be unwilling to return it easily. The more he feigned indifference, the more the other party would lower their guard. And just like that, the scale was back.

Moreover, the moment it was in his hand, "The True Scripture of Iron Blood" activated once more, stimulating his Dragon-Elephant Battle Physique. A high-pitched roar echoed within him, as if it ardently desired something.

Immediately after, the scale actually moved on its own. Like a compass, it rotated independently in his palm. Finally, it pointed towards the bottom of the cliff where waste soil was dumped.

Jiang Fan's heart stirred: "Could there be a treasure beneath the cliff?" Not only was this scale buried extremely deep, but it also required cultivation of "The True Scripture of Iron Blood" to activate, yet its only function was to guide. The conditions were designed to be so stringent. He couldn't imagine how astonishing the treasure it was meant to guide him to would be!

The problem was, he had merely discovered a scale, and Fan Xingkong had forcibly inspected it. If he were to actually dig out that treasure, how could it possibly fall into Jiang Fan's hands? What's more, Jiang Fan had so precisely found a deeply buried treasure; it was obvious to even a fool that he possessed some ability to detect treasures.

For the rest of the day, his actions would be closely monitored. He feared that as soon as he started digging, Fan Xingkong would send people to forcibly seize the area.

His eyes flickered slightly. Jiang Fan subtly put away the scale. Pretending to search for something, he casually found a spot, shouldered his shovel, and prepared to dig.

Fan Xingkong's eyes narrowed, and he immediately waved to two passing Giant Sect disciples: "You two, help him dig. He is a guest; how can we let our guest toil?"

The two disciples immediately put down their work and started digging around Jiang Fan. As expected, Jiang Fan was being watched.

After digging three or four zhang, Jiang Fan gave up and chose another spot to continue digging. Fan Xingkong then summoned several more disciples to dig nearby.

This continued for most of the day. No matter where Jiang Fan chose, Fan Xingkong would find an excuse to order disciples to help Jiang Fan dig. This way, if anything valuable were indeed dug up, Fan Xingkong could easily claim it was found by a Giant Sect disciple and had nothing to do with Jiang Fan.

"This is trouble," Jiang Fan thought to himself. It would be impossible to dig at the spot indicated by the scale today. Otherwise, he would just be doing Fan Xingkong's bidding. He would have to find an opportunity another day to secretly return and dig there.

Suddenly, Jiang Fan raised his hand and gripped the hilt of the sword on his back. His eyes narrowed slightly as he stared at the ground beneath his feet. The gravel on the ground trembled without warning. Then twice, three times... Soon, the entire mountaintop began to continuously shake.

Fan Xingkong's eyes gleamed as he looked towards the horizon. A line of moving mountains, kicking up snow and ice into the sky, was rushing towards Mount Bugui.

Fan Xingkong's expression changed, and he shouted loudly, "All disciples and deacons, gather on the mountaintop! Beast attack!" His expression was grave. This place was not far from the front-line beast tide, and occasionally, stray demonic beasts would inadvertently wander here. The weak ones, he would simply cut down. The stronger ones, a slight move from him would scare them away. But before him were over a dozen beasts, each with an aura above the fourth layer of Core Formation. The strongest one was even close to catching up to him!

What alarmed Fan Xingkong most was that they were moving with purpose, heading directly for Mount Bugui!

Clatter, clatter— Giant Sect disciples, who had also sensed the anomaly, uneasily gathered around Fan Xingkong. Gazing at the vast horde of beast kings in the sky, they were all filled with dread.

Jiang Fan's expression also changed. He immediately retreated, preparing to distance himself from the trouble.

"Young Master Jiang, since you're here, please lend a hand to my Giant Sect!" Fan Xingkong noticed Jiang Fan's actions and couldn't help but twitch his mouth. That little rascal, he was damn fast at slipping away! He immediately spoke up to stop him.

Jiang Fan replied without hesitation: "This junior's strength is meager; staying here would only cause trouble for Elder Fan. If I move further away, Elder Fan can act without restraint." Ask him to help the Giant Sect fight off the beast king tide? Where did they get such nerve?